(Fck it) I Love You
by Screaming Faeries
Summary: The Inferi curse was broken after Voldemort was killed, and the only thing Regulus cared about getting back to was Barty. QLFC Round 10


**Written For: **

QLFC Round 10 "Save Them" - Chaser 2, saving Regulus Black. Prompts: (word) Reflection, (object) Vase, (colour) Chocolate Brown

Hogwarts Assignment #3/Wandlore Task #3: Write about a strong bond between two people.

**Word Count: **1,160

* * *

oOo

"_The way that I'm living is killing me, slowly." _

oOo

Regulus Black didn't get out of the cave quickly enough to save Barty.

As he crawled out of the damp, watery pit of the Inferi, Regulus didn't know how much time had passed. There were others too, witches and wizards who had tried and failed to uncover Voldemort's secrets from the cave. Something had happened to reverse the Inferi curse, and now they were all swimming to the glassy surface of the lake, their grey-white faces bloated and wrinkled with years and years of water. No longer were they bound to Voldemort's undead curse, forced to snatch the wandering souls from the cave.

There were some who didn't return to the surface. Regulus knelt down at the side of the lake and peered into the depths that had been his home for the longest time. Wandering Muggles, some of them only teenagers, who had probably entered the cave on a dare or a whim, and drowned before they could even make it to the other side of the lake. They had thrived as Inferi, but the strain on their non-magical bodies couldn't bring them back after Voldemort's curse had been lifted.

Regulus glimpsed his own warbled reflection in the grey-green surface of the water. He didn't recognise himself. His hair was thin and patchy, hanging around his powder-white face in lank tendrils, and his skin was almost translucent. The whites of his eyes were streaked with red veins and burst blood vessels. As he glanced around at the other survivors, no one else looked much better.

"What happened?" a woman gasped, after choking up a mouthful of water. "Why are we free?"

"He must be...someone must have…" another person murmured.

"He's dead," Regulus finished, standing up straight. "That's the only way we would truly be free of this dark curse. The Dark Lord has been killed."

* * *

oOo

* * *

When Regulus escaped the cave and the survivors dispersed, he was suddenly staggered with regret. _Barty. _

His chocolate brown eyes swam with tears when Regulus announced his plan. _"Please don't leave me," _he had begged. _"I can't do this without you." _

Regulus and Barty had both been sad boys, _bad _boys, both broken down by their home lives and inevitable attraction to the darkness. But they found light in each other, and once they had that, they wanted to be out of that darkness. Regulus was cool-headed and able to stay in control, but Barty was different. He was wild, unable to navigate through his emotions. Without Regulus, it was likely that he'd latch onto the Dark Lord again, and their progress would be shattered.

But it was a risk Regulus had to take. If he went ahead with his plan to destroy the horcrux, then they would have a shot at a future without the Dark Lord's influence. Or at the very least, Barty would have that future.

Regulus had kissed Barty furiously, tasting salt from his tears. _"Baby, I have to," _he'd whispered into Barty's mouth, their foreheads pressed together. _"I have to do it for us."_

* * *

oOo

* * *

It was 1998.

Seeing that date printed on a copy of the _Daily Prophet _almost shocked Regulus to his core. _1998\. _It had been almost twenty years since he had succumbed to the Inferi in the sea cave.

He knew that he'd been trapped down there a long time, but he'd had no sense of time in those watery depths. Surely it hadn't been that long?

His eyes wandered down to the black-and-white image of a cackling, snake-like character. '_HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED IS DEAD—WIZARDKIND CELEBRATES' _screamed the blocky print above the image. Regulus peered closer at the man in the photo. "Is that...is that the Dark Lord?" he wondered aloud, forgetting he wasn't alone in the busy street.

"Of course it's him," snapped the newspaper salesman rudely, snatching the paper out of Regulus's hands. "Were you born yesterday?"

The image of the bald, grey-skinned man was burned into Regulus's mind. The Dark Lord had been warped from splitting his soul twenty years ago, but even then he still maintained some humanity to his appearance.

But none of that mattered anymore. All that mattered was finding Barty, or at the very least, finding out what happened to him.

* * *

oOo

* * *

"_His most faithful servant," _Regulus repeated, the words tasting funny in his mouth.

He'd found out most of his information after seeking out the famous Harry Potter in his own home at Grimmauld Place. Regulus supposed nothing really shocked Harry Potter nowadays, especially not finding ghosts of the past at your front door. When he answered and Regulus announced who he was, Harry almost knocked a vase over, but he soon straightened himself up.

Harry had met Barty firsthand some years before. "Dumbledore didn't want it to happen to him," Harry explained gravely, his fingers knotted together in his lap. "He wanted a chance to speak to him, to get more information. But Fudge_—_the Minister at the time_—_sent for the Dementors before he had a chance."

"Do you know where he is now?" Regulus asked.

Harry furrowed his brow. "Well, dead I imagine. The Dementor kissed him."

"Then he's not dead," Regulus replied. "The Dementor's kiss is a fate _worse _than death."

* * *

oOo

* * *

It was surprisingly not that hard to find him.

After the fall of Voldemort, the first thing the new Minister for Magic had done was shut down Azkaban. The unfit were sent to a special hospital in the country, and the prisoners were kept in safe units until the prison had been reformed into a humane holding cell.

Barty had been sent back to Azkaban after receiving the Dementor's kiss. His soul had been sucked out already, but they felt the need to throw him back into the pits of hell to rot. Since the doors of the prison were closed down, Barty was one of the unfit that was sent to the hospital.

There were a lot of people in that hospital in the country, unsurprisingly. The majority of them were criminals who had received the kiss.

His heart almost broke through his chest when the matron led him to Barty's room.

The man he loved was almost nothing now, just a hollow shell of a human, his once glimmering brown eyes glassy and staring straight ahead. If it wasn't for the slow, raspy breaths that shook his chest, Regulus would think he was dead.

Regulus wrapped his arms around Barty's neck, cradling his face. Sobs wracked his throat as he cried into Barty's sandy, straw-like hair.

When he pulled away, there was no change in Barty's demeanor. He continued to lay, misty-eyed and slack-mouthed, staring straight ahead. Regulus threaded his fingers through Barty's, and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand.

"I know you're still in there somewhere," Regulus whispered. "I'm going to bend heaven and hell to fix you, baby."

* * *

_End_


End file.
